Chapter 13
Thirteen
A good little slut always checks in with their partner after a threesome.
And I am definitely a good little slut.
- Arienna
I wake up in the middle of the night, sweating like a hairy ballsack in the peak of summer. Richard is lying beside me on his belly. He has one arm banded around me, crushing me to his side. I try to move away from him, but his grip instantly tightens.
A low, sleepy growl rumbles from him. “If you move, it better be to get on your knees.”
Stilling, I whimper. No thank you. I am not waking that beast up for the rest of the night. If he knew how to do quickies, then maybe. But he absolutely does not.
So I try to ignore the uncomfortable heat and go back to sleep. Eventually, I start counting grasshoppers.
One.
Two.
Three.
Oh, this is ridiculous.
Scooting out from under his arm, I nudge my king over onto his side. With my head resting on his thigh as if it’s a pillow, I suck him into my mouth. It tastes freshly washed again, and I sigh in contentment.
I barely count six sucks before I’m fast asleep.
I wake up freezing on the other side of the bed this time. I turn over and look at my king. He’s coiled up tight in the thick blanket. Grabbing a corner of it, I yank it towards me.
It doesn’t move.
I yank harder.
Growling, Richard tucks his arms over his chest, pinning it to him.
Then the bastard rolls over.
Sitting up, I shake his shoulder.
I cry out as a sharp pain flies up my arm. He’s grabbed my hand and twisted it before I even registered he moved.
Bolting upright, Richard shoves me off the bed. One of the bedroom doors opens, and my king tosses a knife at the person who comes in. I gasp as I hit the floor. At the same time, light floods the place, and I close my eyes against the sudden change.
“Shit,” Richard curses as he runs over to me. He picks me up off the floor, then raises my wrist up to his face. “Move your fingers for me, my queen.”
My heart hammering, I move each one, trying not to shake. “Bad dream?” I ask, laughter rising in my throat. “Or do you really just not like sharing the blanket?”
He stares at me, not a trace of humour in his gaze. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I don’t wake well when shaken.”
“Ah.” I nod. “Okay.” I giggle as Jace tosses a knife onto the bedside table beside us. He and the other two guards behind him leave without a word. “Well, next time, I shall throw a bucket of water on you from a distance,” I tell my husband.
His lips tight, he picks me up so I’m cradled against his chest.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“To get the healing wand.”
Crossing the living room, he enters the bathroom and sets me down on the lid of the toilet. Opening the cupboard beneath the sink, he pulls out the wand.
“I don’t think it needs it,” I say, the pain having turned into a minor ache.
Ignoring me, he points the wand at my wrist. “Iactus.”
Warmth flows through my arm, then disappears in a moment, along with the pain. Smiling at him, I say, “There, all better. Thank you.”
His frown deepens as he puts the wand away. Grabbing the hand he offers me, I allow him to pull me to my feet. But then I stop. I have so many questions inside of me. About the market. About Fabia. About him letting Jace go further than we discussed.
He stands in front of me with so many walls up, I don’t know what to mention first.
“Do you need me to carry you?” he asks as he turns back to face me, his brows pinched as he looks over my legs in concern. “Did you get hurt when I tossed you off the bed?”
“No. I… Are you okay?” I ask.
His eyes lift to mine. “I do not like that I hurt you.”
“You didn’t hurt me.” I smile mischievously. “You spank me way harder than that.” But instead of the grin I expected to see on his lips, there is nothing. “Are you upset with me?” I ask softly.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Are you upset with Jace?”
“No.”
“Did you like seeing his head between my legs?”
His jaw tics, and he glances away. My chest tightens as his answer hangs between us clear as day. “I’m sorry,” I say.
“You have nothing to apologise for.”
“I hurt you.”
He cups my cheeks, then kisses me. It’s tender and sweet and makes my heart ache. It makes me feel like he’s taking care of me when I should be taking care of him. “You didn’t hurt me,” he whispers against my lips. “You checked in to make sure I was okay.”
“You said yellow.”
“I did.”
“Were you lying?”
“No.”
I frown as a tightness wraps around me. There are too many things I simply do not understand here. What if I never learn to fit in? What if this place never becomes my home?
I shake those thoughts away as fast as they appear. This is already my home. Because Fabia is here. And my king.
“So… tell me what made it a yellow,” I say. That’s what he asked me when I called red. Is it the same for the other colours?
Scooping down, he lifts me up in his arms and cradles me to his naked chest. As he carries me into the bedroom, I fear he isn’t going to answer.
But then he crawls into bed with me and lays me out beside him after turning off the bedroom light.
Wrapping his arms around me, my back to his chest, he kisses the top of my head.
“I liked watching another man desire you,” Richard says slowly, “while he isn’t able to fully have you. The jealousy I had over him touching you was quieted by the pride that you are mine and he knew it. Envied it.”
“But that’s changed now?” I ask.
“No. I…” He sighs. “Jace makes people laugh. Everyone likes him. You… like him.”
I frown, wondering what that has to do with anything. Then my eyes widen as I turn in his arms to face him. He turned off the light when we got back in bed, and I wish it was on now so he could see the honesty on my face. “You think I want to be with Jace?” I ask. “Over you?”
“He isn’t a monster to you,” he says softly.
Sorrow crushes my lungs as I recall the hurt in his eyes when I called him that back in Brownston. When he threw a knife at Karl’s feet, challenging him to a fight to the death, I thought he was bloodthirsty. “You’re not a monster,” I say. “I just didn’t know you. I was wrong.”
“You weren’t.”
“I was.” I cup his cheek. “You’re a good person. You let Karl live.”
“I cut off his dick.”
My eyes widen. “What? He didn’t look in pain when Jace took me to see him.
” Of course, I wasn’t paying Karl much attention at the time considering I was trying not to orgasm in front of him while Richard played with the settings on my vibrator.
But I’m certain I would’ve noticed if he’d been screaming about his missing dick.
“That’s because I had it reattached.”
I smile. “See? That was being nice!”
“I also cut off his tongue.”
“That was nice for everyone.”
His lips tick up in the dark, but it isn’t exactly a smile. “I reattached that too.”
“Less kind. But you also stabbed Lief for raping Fabia, and that is most kind.”
He stills. “She told you what he did to her? Did she go into the specifics?”
“Well, she said what happened to me that one time with my grandfather –”
“What happened with your grandfather?” he cuts in with a growl.
“Nothing. Fabia spilled soup on him and melted his penis and balls.”
“How old were you?”
I frown. “Why is that an issue?”
“Arienna.”
“I’m trying to understand.”
“How. Old?”
I swallow, but I don’t push. There’s a tension radiating off him that’s making my body feel like a hundred bugs are crawling all over it, biting through my skin, and burrowing deep. “Six,” I answer. But when he stays silent, I ask again, “Why is my age an issue? Most brownies have sex at that age.”
“With their family?” he demands. “Adults?”
“Sometimes.”
“Did you ever have sex with someone in your family?”
I shake my head. “No one asked me after Grandfather’s accident. And I didn’t like attending any orgies with them there.”
“Where is he now?” His voice feels like the breath of winter, causing me to shiver.
“Dead. The pain was too much and our healing wands weren’t strong enough to help him.”
“Good.”
My lips part, but no words escape. Then the softest, “I’m happy too.”
Crushing my face to his chest, he holds me tight.
Then he’s releasing me and rolling out of bed. “Get some sleep, my queen. We have a busy day come dawn.”
I sit up. “Where are you going?”
He starts to get dressed. His clothes rustle as he moves through the dark. “I need to talk to Fabia.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To thank her for looking out for you.”
“Oh, that’s nice.” I beam, then instantly frown. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. She’s grumpy when she’s sleepy.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“I don’t know…”
He strides over to the bed and kisses my forehead. “Go to sleep, my queen. Lie on my side.” He kisses me again. “I like seeing you there.”
Doing as he says, I cuddle his pillow and breathe in his scent. “I love you,” I murmur as I close my eyes. Sleep pulls at me quickly, my body more exhausted than I realised.
His fingers run through my hair, stroking me behind the ear. Sighing, I squeeze his pillow tight, and in my dreams, he whispers a heartfelt, “I love you too.”